COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR


Senate Bill No. 200

(By Senators Snyder and Fanning)

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[Originating in the Committee on Health and Human Resources;

reported February 19, 2003.]

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A BILL to amend section twenty-two-a, article six, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to food service establishments and the requirements to post notices concerning the presence of sulfites in salads and salad crispers added to lettuce; providing for enforcement by local health departments; and establishing penalties for noncompliance.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two-a, article seven, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. PURE FOOD AND DRUGS.
§16-6-22a. Sulfite use warning Warnings for use of salad preservatives.

(a) Any restaurant or food service establishment regulated pursuant to this article utilizing sulfites as a preservative on salad bars shall prominently display a public notice in the following words: "NOTICE TO PERSONS USING SALAD BAR: This establishment applies sulfites as a preservative on items in the salad bar."
(b) Any restaurant or food service establishment, in this state, which sells, or offers for sale, for consumption on the premises of the establishment, lettuce that is treated with salad crispers, shall provide on its premises the following printed notice to customers and potential customers: "Notice: The lettuce sold here has been treated with salad crispers."
(c) The state director of health is responsible for administering this section. He may delegate the duties to any county boards of health or combined local boards of health.
(d) The state health department shall publish standards, by legislative rule, for such notices, assuring a uniform size and color of the notices to be purchased by the owner of any such establishment specifying a minimum size in area for signs and requiring that notices, printed in menus, be in type no smaller than twelve point.
 (e) Any person found to have violated the provisions of this section is subject for a first offense to a written reprimand and warning. Any person found to have violated the provisions of this section for a second or subsequent time is subject to a fine of up to five hundred dollars and may be subject to revocation of license to operate a restaurant or food establishment.




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require restaurants or other food service establishments to advise their customers with printed notices when salad crispers are added to the lettuce sold in the establishment.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.